The Relative Deficiency of Potassium Ions in Nerve Cells Causes Abnormal Functions and Neurological and Mental Diseases

The difference of intracellular potassium (K+) and extracellular sodium (Na+) concentrations in nerve cells plays an important role in the functional activities of the nervous system. The maintenance of this difference mainly depends on the number and efficiency of Na, K-ATPase. However, due to the functional activity of nerve cells, this system often loses its balance. An undetectable phenomenon is the relative deficiency of potassium in nerve cells in specific brain regions or neural network structures, which leads to dysfunction of specific nerve cell populations or brain regions, thus leading to different types of neurological disorders or diseases. The relative deficiency of potassium ions in nerve cells may be caused by the competitive failure of nerve cells to effectively use potassium ions stored in the body, and the core reason may be related to insufficient potassium obtained through diet or effectively absorbed by the digestive system. Therefore, a simple strategy is to treat a patient by taking appropriate potassium orally. This paper presents a case with great success by using such a method to treat a patient with major depression.

Relative Deficiency of Intracellular Potassium in Relation to the Functional Changes and Diseases in Non-Nervous System

Because of the huge differences in cellular structures and functions in non-nervous system and interaction between the nervous and non-nervous systems in potassium ion absorption, storage and effective utilization, the organs, tissues and tissue cells in non-nervous system have different functional dependence on potassium ion and its characteristics in competitive distribution differences. Therefore, I propose that the relative deficiency of potassium in cells in non-nervous organs and tissues may show very different functional changes and disease characteristics. Some are susceptible to pathogenic microorganisms, some may result in decrease of cell functions, and other may have comprehensive changes such as chronic inflammation. Therefore, the core causes for the functional changes and lesions of these non-nervous organs and tissues are closely related to the relative deficiency of potassium ions in their cells, which provides important ideas for the prevention and treatment of these functional changes and diseases.

The Core Mechanism of Traditional Medicine Is the Rational and Effective Use of Potassium Ions

The use of traditional medicines including natural drugs, especially traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of human diseases;however, so far, the mechanism of its prevention, health care and treatment of diseases is unclear. Here, I propose that the core mechanism of traditional medicines is to correct the relative deficiency of potassium ions in body and at the same time improve the utilization efficiency of potassium ions, so as to improve or restore cell functions in organs and tissues, and let the body return to a normal state. In order to achieve such a core goal, the therapeutic effect of natural drugs has an important relationship with the rational matching of prescriptions and the quality of drugs, with particular emphasis on the concentrations and quantum energy levels of potassium ions or their compounds in the formula. The understanding of the core effect of potassium in natural drugs has a specific and important guiding role for the artificial cultivation and rational use of natural drugs. Moreover, these ideas may also provide an important theoretical basis for the development of modern agriculture and medicine, and the rational and comprehensive utilization of potassium resources.

The Continuous Relative Deficiency of Intracellular Potassium Is a Core Mechanism for the Occurrence and Metastasis of Tumor Cancer Cells

The core mechanism for occurrence of tumor cancer cells is related to the continuous relative deficiency of potassium ions in the cells of organs and tissues, which results in embryonic like proliferation and differentiation in the affected cells. The purpose of the metastasis of cancer cells is to obtain and utilize the potassium resources in other organs in body. However, if the overall potassium storage in body is obviously insufficient, the metastatic cancer cells still fail to achieve the purpose of obtaining enough potassium and turn into normal cells, further proliferation and differentiation of cancer cells will continue, and finally will lead to functional decline in the organs and tissues affected or death. Therefore, the key means to prevent and treat tumors and cancers is to ensure the normal and balanced potassium ions in cells in various organs and tissues, so as to avoid the formation of tumors and cancer cells caused by obvious deficiency of potassium ions.

Why Are There So Many Puzzles in Fighting against COVID-19 Pandemic?

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and its variety that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have had a great impact on human health and society since it was epidemic in 2019. The traditional immunological theories believe that human body resists the invasion of exogenous substances, such as different kinds of pathogenic microorganisms, through natural immunity and acquired immunity. We have greatly understood the underlying mechanisms of these two kinds of immunities, which are achieved through cellular and humoral immunity. Immune cells mainly include B and T cells. B cells produce specific antibodies and participate in the humoral immune response, while T cells have more extensive immune effects related to the cellular immune response. Therefore, such traditional immunological theories allow us habitually believe that the human body can resist the attack of virus as long as we have established the so-called normal cellular and humoral immune functions, however, in fact, this is not the case. The traditional ideas make us ignore the most critical, but simple and important defense system in our body to fight against the attack of foreign microorganisms, and that is the intracellular potassium ions (K+) and extracellular sodium ions (Na+), in particular, the intracellular potassium ions, called “K+/Na+ natural immune system”. The abnormality of this system, in particular, the intracellular relative deficiency of potassium ions, may have a very important relationship with the susceptibility and pathogenesis of the body to viral infection, and could explain a series of confusing phenomena that appeared during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and provide new ideas for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.